Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV

Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV (Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi; 4 July 1918 – 10 September 2006) was King of Tonga from 1965 until his death in 2006. He was the tallest and heaviest Tongan monarch, weighing and measuring .

Early life and career

He was born to Viliami Tungī Mailefihi and Queen Sālote Tupou III. His full baptismal name was Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi, but he became better known by the noble title Tupoutoʻa, which was bestowed upon him in 1935 and was subsequently reserved for crown princes of Tonga. This title was supplemented by the one he inherited from his father, Tungī (or using both: Tupoutoʻa Tungī; archaic spelling: Tuboutoʻa Tugi). He kept the Tungī title until his death. From a traditional point of view he was not only the Tungī, which is the direct descendant from the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, but he was also, on becoming king, the 22nd Tuʻi Kanokupolu. The link with the Tuʻi Tonga line, however, was more indirect. He was not a Tuʻi Tonga in his own right (the office having gone over into the Kalaniuvalu line), but his grandmother Lavinia Veiongo (wife of George Tupou II) was the great-granddaughter of Laufilitonga, the last Tuʻi Tonga, and his wife Halaevalu Mataʻaho (not to be confused with the King's wife of the same name and same family), who was the daughter of Tupou ʻAhomeʻe, who was the daughter of Lātūfuipeka, the Tamahā (sister of the Tuʻi Tonga). By consequence, his children all descended from the bloodlines of the three major historical royal dynasties of Tonga.

He was educated first at Tupou College, then continued his studies at Newington College in Australia. He thereafter studied law at Sydney University while residing at Wesley College. His graduation from Sydney University was described as the first of any Tongan.

In 1943, the crown prince was appointed minister of education by Queen Sālote. He additionally served as minister of health, agriculture, communications and foreign affairs, and became prime minister in 1949. During his tenure as education minister, he initiated reforms to standardise the Tongan alphabet and in 1959, his government approved the publication of a bilingual Tongan-English dictionary. He also supervised the establishment of the '' Tonga Chronicle'' and the Tonga Broadcasting Commission.

In 1964, Tungī visited the United Kingdom for negotiations regarding the future independence of Tonga. He requested that the Colonial Office grant Tonga permission to appoint its own diplomats to Britain and the United States. The British government declined due to cost concerns.

Reign

Tungī ascended the throne on 16 December 1965, following the death of his mother. He continued negotiating with the UK to arrange Tonga's transition to a sovereign state within the Commonwealth. His coronation took place on 4 July 1967, his 49th birthday, at the royal chapel in Nukuʻalofa, in a service that combined Methodist and traditional Tongan customs. The coronation was attended by international dignitaries including the Duke of Kent and New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake.

On 4 June 1970, he presided over a ceremony marking the end of the British protectorate over Tonga and its transition to a sovereign state. He visited many far-flung countries during his reign and modernised Tonga's contact with the outside world.

In the 1980s, Tāufaʻāhau adopted a tone of appeasement towards France in its Pacific nuclear tests at Moruroa, which were publicly criticised by other Pacific countries. He visited Moruroa twice and was invited by Gaston Flosse to visit Tahiti. When he was questioned by a journalist on his view, the king said that "if France considered he tests"necessary for its defence it was a choice which must be respected".

Towards the end of his reign, increasing authoritarianism within Tonga's essentially aristocratic system of government, coupled with the influence of the monarchy and nobles in politics and the economy, led to the formation of a pro-democracy movement in Tonga. The king himself had dismissed calls for democratisation of the political system, pointing to political crises in neighbouring Fiji. His involvement in an investment scandal in 2001, involving his American financial advisor Jesse Bogdonoff, attracted much media attention; the fact he had previously appointed Bogdonoff the official court jester, though likely only done as a joke for Bogdonoff's birthday on 1 April (April Fools' Day), compounded the scandal's embarrassment.

In 2003, another controversy emerged when his government banned an independent newspaper, the '' Times of Tonga'' published in New Zealand, and later attempted to amend the constitution to restrict freedom of the press in response to the country's chief justice ruling against the ban. The following year, Reporters Without Borders named him a press freedom predator, a move which was criticised by the owner of another independent newspaper in Tonga.

In 2005, the government spent several weeks negotiating with striking civil service workers before reaching a settlement. The king's nephew, ʻUluvalu (the 6th Tuʻipelehake), served as mediator. A constitutional commission presented a series of recommendations for constitutional reform to the King a few weeks before his death.

Illness and death

Tupou IV suffered from heart and age-related problems in his final years, which necessitated medical care at the Mercy Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. He returned to Tonga intermittently, with his last such visit being in early July 2006 for his 88th birthday.

On 15 August 2006, Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele interrupted radio and television broadcasts to announce the king was gravely ill and to ask the 104,000 people of the island chain to pray for their monarch. He died on 10 September at 23:34 NZST at the Mercy Hospital, after reigning for nearly 41 years, making him the fourth longest-serving head of state at the time. The Queen and his daughter Princess Pilolevu were reportedly by his bedside at his death. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George Tupou V.

Following his death, Tonga entered a month-long period of national mourning, with the royal family and court undergoing a longer mourning period of six months. After a period of lying in state at his residence of ʻAtalanga in Epsom, his body was taken to Tonga on 13 September by a Lockheed C-130 Hercules owned by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, also carrying members of the Tongan diaspora for the funeral.

The king was buried on 19 September at Malaʻekula, the royal cemetery in Tongatapu. Thousands of Tongans watched the funeral, which blended Christian and ancient Polynesian burial rites. The funeral was overseen by the royal undertaker and his men, known as the . Mourners included foreign dignitaries from 23 countries, including Japanese crown prince Naruhito; Australian governor-general Michael Jeffery; New Zealand governor-general Dame Silvia Cartwright and prime minister Helen Clark; Fijian vice-president Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and prime minister Laisenia Qarase; Vanuatu president Kalkot Mataskelekele; governor of American Samoa Togiola Tulafono; Niue premier Young Vivian; president of French Polynesia Oscar Temaru; and the Duke of Gloucester, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

Personal life and family

Tāufaʻāhau was a keen sportsman in his youth, engaging in rugby, tennis, cricket and rowing, and an admirer of Otto von Bismarck. He remained a lay preacher of the Free Wesleyan Church and in some circumstances, was empowered to appoint an acting church president.

He married a distant relative, Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe (1926–2017), on 10 June 1947, during a double nuptial ceremony with his brother Prince Fatafehi Tuʻipelehake. The couple had four children:

* King George Tupou V (Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou; 1948–2012), better known during his tenure as heir by the hereditary noble title Tupoutoʻa.
* Princess Royal Salote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita (; born 1951); Lady Tuita by marriage.
* Prince Fatafehi ʻAlaivahamamaʻo Tukuʻaho (1954–2004); stripped of his title after marrying a commoner, later bestowed with the hereditary title of Māʻatu.
* King Tupou VI (ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 1959), known prior to his ascension to the throne by his hereditary titles: ʻUlukālala Lavaka Ata, then after his elder brother's ascension, Tupoutoʻa Lavaka. As his brother died without legitimate issue, he became king in 2012.

Weight

At one point in the 1970s, Tāufaʻāhau was the heaviest monarch in the world, weighing in at . For his visits to Germany, the German government used to commission special chairs that could support his weight. The King used to take them home, considering them as state presents. He was also very tall, standing at . Swedish shoemaker Per-Enok Kero reported that he "weighed 180 kilos and had shoe size 47 in length and 52 in breadth." In the 1990s, he took part in a national fitness campaign, losing a third of his weight. By 2003, his weight had been reduced to .

Honours

National

* Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Pouono
* Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of King George Tupou I
* Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown of Tonga
* Sovereign Recipient of the Royal Tongan Medal of Merit
* Sovereign Recipient of the Tongan Red Cross Medal

Foreign

* : Recipient of the Royal Medal of Recompense
* : Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
* : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Class
* : Grand Cross of the Order of Tahiti Nui (4 March 1997)
* : Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
* : Grand Cross of the Order of Brilliant Jade
* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1977)
* : Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (1970)
* : Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (1958)
* : Bailiff Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of Saint John
* : Recipient of the Medal of Merit of the Legion of Frontiersmen
* : Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
* World Peace Prize (1997)

Namesakes

* Tonga House at Newington College

Family tree

Notes

References

External links

Obituary of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV with historical context

Official announcement of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV's passing away

Website of the Tongan Monarchy

New Zealand Herald Feature Article

Recent Visit of HM King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV to Hong Kong

The 1993 Silver Jubilee of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV

Pacific Magazine: Thousands Turn Out For King's Funeral

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupou 04, Taufaahau
Tongan Methodists
1918 births
2006 deaths
People educated at Newington College
Monarchs of Tonga
Prime ministers of Tonga
People from Nukuʻalofa
University of Sydney alumni
Sons of queens regnant
Children of prime ministers of Tonga

Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bailiffs Grand Cross of the Order of St John
20th-century monarchs in Oceania
21st-century monarchs in Oceania